Animal exercise wheel

Abstract

An animal exercise device is described in the form a rotating wheel, generally cylindrical in form, open on one face for an animal to enter and exit, and solidly closed on the other face, which also provides a bearing for rotation. The wall and closed face are solid to avoid injury to an animal. The wheel's axis of rotation is at an angle from horizontal. The inside surface of the wall comprises spaced ridges for gripping by the animal's toes or feet. A contrasting marking on the outside surface of the wall aids vision-based rotation measurement. Embodiments are supported solely through the bearing and have no rotation drive other than use by an animal. Methods of use include automated measurement, using equipment external to the cage, of animal health and use in a multihoused cage where unique animal ID is associated with wheel use.

We claim: 
     
       1. An animal exercise wheel comprising:
 a wheel axis; 
 a flat, circular face, disposed centered and normal to the wheel axis, comprising a central axle bearing; 
 a continuous, curved, solid, perimeter wall affixed proximal to a perimeter of the face, perpendicular to the face; 
 wherein the face and perimeter wall define an open cylindrical wheel volume, closed at the face and the perimeter wall and open opposedly from the face; 
 wherein the diameter of the perimeter wall defines a wheel diameter; wherein a width of the perimeter wall from a first wall edge to the opposing wall edge defines a wheel width; 
 wherein the perimeter wall comprises an inner surface and an outer surface; 
 wherein the wheel is adapted to rotate around the wheel axis; 
 wherein the face is free of openings injurious to an animal; 
 wherein an inside surface of the perimeter wall comprises a set of ridges, each ridge parallel to the wheel axis and extending from the first wall edge to the opposing wall edge; wherein the set of ridges extends fully around the inside surface of the perimeter wall; wherein each ridge has a ridge height and the set of ridges comprises a ridge spacing between ridges; 
 wherein the wheel axis is tilted at a wheel angle from horizontal greater than zero; wherein the wheel axis is lower at the face and higher at the open end of the cylindrical wheel volume; 
 wherein the wheel is free of any support except at the axle bearing; and 
 the perimeter wall is transparent or a first color, except for at least one contrast region comprising a second, contrasting color. 
 
     
     
       2. The animal exercise wheel of  claim 1  wherein:
 the at least one contrast region extends the width of the wheel and extends in the range of two percent to thirty percent of a circumference of the perimeter wall. 
 
     
     
       3. An animal exercise wheel comprising:
 a wheel axis; 
 a flat, circular face, disposed centered and normal to the wheel axis, comprising a central axle bearing; 
 a continuous, curved, solid, perimeter wall affixed proximal to a perimeter of the face, perpendicular to the face; 
 wherein the face and perimeter wall define an open cylindrical wheel volume, closed at the face and the perimeter wall and open opposedly from the face; 
 wherein the diameter of the perimeter wall defines a wheel diameter; wherein a width of the perimeter wall from a first wall edge to the opposing wall edge defines a wheel width; 
 wherein the perimeter wall comprises an inner surface and an outer surface; 
 wherein the wheel is adapted to rotate around the wheel axis; 
 wherein the face is free of openings injurious to an animal; 
 wherein an inside surface of the perimeter wall comprises a set of ridges, each ridge parallel to the wheel axis and extending from the first wall edge to the opposing wall edge; wherein the set of ridges extends fully around the inside surface of the perimeter wall; wherein each ridge has a ridge height and the set of ridges comprises a ridge spacing between ridges; 
 wherein the wheel axis is tilted at a wheel angle from horizontal greater than zero; wherein the wheel axis is lower at the face and higher at the open end of the cylindrical wheel volume; 
 wherein the wheel is free of any support except at the axle bearing; and 
 wherein the wheel axis tilt angle is in the range of two to fifteen degrees from horizontal, inclusive. 
 
     
     
       4. The animal exercise wheel of  claim 3  wherein:
 the axle bearing comprises a bushing, perpendicular to the face, wherein the bushing is a monolithic portion of a monolithic wheel. 
 
     
     
       5. A method of measuring animal health comprising:
 placing an exercise wheel of  claim 3  into an animal cage; 
 placing one or more animals in the animal cage; 
 observing, recording and communicating a number and time of rotations of the wheel; 
 comparing the number and times of wheel rotations to a reference model; 
 wherein the animal health comprises a scalar health value and a scalar confidence value responsive to the comparing. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5  wherein:
 the cage is free of electronic penetrations. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 5  wherein:
 the cage comprises a plurality of animals; 
 wherein the cage comprises an electronic device to automatically determine a unique animal ID of each animal using the wheel; 
 wherein the cage is free of electronic penetrations; 
 and the additional step: 
 determining a unique animal ID of an animal using the wheel. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 5  comprises the additional step:
 measuring and recording responsive to a vision system and wheel rotation wheel usage, comprising any combination of {wheel rotations; wheel speed, wheel usage times; and identification of an animal using the wheel}; 
 wherein the vision system is external the cage and comprises both infrared illumination of the cage interior and visible light illumination of the cage interior. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 5  wherein:
 the animal cage comprises a single sensor, outside the cage; 
 wherein the animal cage is free of electronic penetrations; 
 wherein the observing uses the single sensor; 
 and comprising the additional step: 
 identifying uniquely an animal in cage using the single sensor; 
 associating data from the observing, recording, and communicating with the animal uniquely identified in the identifying step. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9  wherein:
 the single sensor is a video camera. 
 
     
     
       11. A method of recording animal health comprising the steps:
 placing the wheel of  claim 1  in a cage adapted to multihoused animals; 
 placing one or more animals in the cage; 
 placing a vision system outside the cage; 
 placing an animal identification system outside the cage adapted to uniquely identify each of the multihoused animals; 
 measuring and recording for each multihoused animal, responsive to the vision system, wheel rotation, and unique animal identification any wheel usage combination of the set of: {wheel rotations; wheel speed, wheel usage times}, for any combination of any number of elements from the set; 
 associating the measured and recorded wheel data with individual, uniquely identified animals in the cage; 
 comparing the recorded wheel usage combination of the each uniquely identified animal to a wheel usage model; 
 computing both a numerical distance scalar and confidence scalar responsive to the comparing, of each multihoused animal; 
 wherein the animal health of each multihoused animal is a metric responsive to the numerical distance scalar and confidence scalar of the each animal. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 generating a time-based graph of the animal health wherein the frequency of points on the graph is at least daily. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 generating a time-based graph of the animal health wherein the frequency of points on the graph is at least four times daily.